YouGov's flourishing a poll that says fewer than half of people living in London want to stay here long term, with 52% saying they would prefer to live in another part of the country.
In a way this isn't surprising as sections of the capital's population is highly fluid (work, education, family), yet when you look at the most popular area Londoners would want to move to, 16% would head to the bucolic idylls of "south east England" – in other words, the commuter belt. (Incidentally, south west England is the next most fancied location. That's a lot of B&B dreams.) And when asked whether they see themselves in London in 10 years, the 48% for whom the city is first choice, obviously, say yes but 20% of the rest don't know.
Also telling was the number of people who chose 'expensive' to describe London (65%), and 51% thought you could only really enjoy the city if you were rich. We beg to differ, and point respondents to our weekly list of things to do for less than a fiver; though if on your 'things to do' list is 'live somewhere' we concede there's a point to be made.
While we're here, just 6% chose to describe London as beautiful, the same amount who said the city is ugly. We know we're biased, but this is crazy talk. Suggestions for prettiest sights in London in the comments, please.
Photo by Trowbridge Estate from the Londonist Flickr pool
